Two forward-thinking musical innovators who continue to carve out interesting new projects, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew aren't the type to reminisce about the good ol' days. But they did keep coming back to that one day in Rome in 1980.
"We would have dinner every once in a while," recalled Harrison, "and inevitably we would get back to talking about the tour we did in 1980 and specifically that Rome concert, and just the pure joy of it."
The co-founding guitarist/keyboardist of Talking Heads was referring to his old band's performances after the release of "Remain in Light," their landmark 1980 LP with producer Brian Eno. Ranked the fourth-best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone, it boldly infused Afrobeat and electronic music influences into rock music, most famously evidenced by the hit single "Once in a Lifetime."
That 1980 tour was the first on which the four original Heads brought along extra musicians. Among them was P-Funk keyboard legend Bernie Worrell as well as Belew, the experimental guitar hero who played with King Crimson, David Bowie and Frank Zappa and was featured on "Remain," too.
Four decades later, Harrison and Belew have paired up again on tour celebrating that album and tour, including a concert Friday at First Avenue.
"Adrian and I kind of agreed, 'The world needs this again,' because there was such a joy in it," Harrison explained of the outing, originally planned pre-COVID-19 to mark the 40th anniversary in 2020.
A Milwaukee native also known from the punk-pioneering Boston band the Modern Lovers, Harrison has spent ample time in Minnesota, including many summer visits to a friend's lakeside villa in Crosslake and a 1993 stayover at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls south of the Twin Cities. That's when he produced alt-rock band Live's multiplatinum album "Throwing Copper" — right after Nirvana made "In Utero" there.
"I still recognize the drum sound on both those albums as being very similar," he noted.
Harrison said First Ave was specifically picked for this tour, because it provides room for dancing: "We first envisioned this tour for music festivals, and at festivals you want people to get up and dance and not stop.
"That Rome show really was the blueprint," he added, referring to the December 1980 show at the Palazzo dello Sport, a grainy film of which remains in heavy rotation on YouTube (in lieu of a more hi-fi version, which doesn't exist).
"We're not playing much of the second half of the album, which are moodier and slower songs. That might've worked if we'd planned it for theaters, but we were thinking more of the festival environment. So we're also playing some of the earlier Talking Heads songs we also played in Rome."
Harrison's and Belew's backers on this outing mostly hail from another group, Turkuaz, a New York-based, Berklee College of Music-generated funk ensemble that enlisted Harrison as a producer for its 2017 album, "Life in the City." Turkuaz members also are in a new group called Cool Cool Cool, which is opening the shows.
"They knew a lot of the Talking Heads songs already and were fans, so I knew they could do it, and Adrian saw them and agreed," Harrison said. "Plus, I wanted to work with a band that was already used to working together — which is just a lot easier logistically."
Of course, Harrison and just about everyone else in the universe not named David Byrne would like to see the Talking Heads themselves learn to work together again. Since their 1991 split, they remain one of rock's most prominent bands to never reunite, aside from a short set for their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2002.
Drummer Chris Frantz, who's the husband of Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, aired his grievances against Byrne in last year's memoir, "Remain in Love," writing, "He can't imagine that anyone else would be important."
Harrison went easier on the singer.
"I don't think David has ever had any interest in doing [a reunion], and now he's had quite a successful tour around the world and a successful run on Broadway using a lot of Talking Heads songs as an important component," Harrison said. "So I think he's paying homage to Taking Heads that way while also showing how he's moved beyond Talking Heads with things he's done since then."
Given his own long and varied list of projects outside Talking Heads — three solo albums, producer for the Violent Femmes, Big Head Todd, Crash Test Dummies and the excellent Memphis music documentary "Take Me to the River" — Harrison said he's more comfortable now putting his own modern spin on his old band's classic material.
"I thought: If I'm not going to be playing these songs with the other members of the Talking Heads, at least Adrian really was a key member of the band on that particular tour, an extremely important one," he said. "Having Adrian involved gives it a good amount of authenticity.
"And if Bernie Worrell were still alive, I would've done everything I could to get him on this tour, too. I miss him dearly."
Here's more of what Harrison had to say in our phone interview earlier this month.
On the bold musical blending behind "Remain in Light," recorded in the Bahamas and Philadelphia: "We took for a guidepost 'I Zimbra' on [1979's] 'Fear of Music,' which we all loved and all said we should do more of. We were all fans of Fela Kuti and other African artists, so we all thought it was a really good place for us to explore sonically.
"The other thing was, we deliberately went into the studio without rehearsing and without having preconceived songs. We were trying to capture the innocence you get when you first play something, that magic moment of creation."
On Adrian Belew's role then and now: "He shares a love for the album and an important moment in his career. He really embraced the idea it'd just be fun to do this tour. It's been fun for him to challenge himself and think back, 'How did I do it back then?' He even changed up his guitar setup. He's deliberately using a Stratocaster and different pedals like an advertisement to guitar fans he's doing it the old way."
On his love for the Land of 10,000 Lakes: "Unfortunately, our friends who owned that place up in Crosslake sold it. We sure had a great time up there. Being from Wisconsin, I knew about that northern lake culture. There's something about the light, temperature, scenery; it's just perfect. One year I took all my kids, and my younger son was like, 'I go out on the ocean. Why would I want to go to a lake in Minnesota?!' I convinced him it was totally different, and he had just a great time."
On the lingering chances of a Talking Heads reunion: "Let's just say I'm not holding my breath. There've been times and occasions I thought we were at least getting a little closer. Like the time [former Vice President] Al Gore was organizing a concert about global warming. Something like that that's bigger than ourselves and not just about Talking Heads might do it. Or I suppose if we all became bad gamblers and lost all our money, that could have an effect, too."
Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew
With: Cool Cool Cool.
When: 8:30 p.m. Fri.
Where: First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls.
Tickets: $35, axs.com.
